Lauren Phillips bares all on air in new radio gig

Radio host Lauren Phillips has revealed she was sounded out to be the star of one of Australia’s biggest dating shows.

Lauren Phillips has revealed what life is like as a breakfast radio host on KIIS FM. Picture: Rebecca Michael

Lauren Phillips has revealed she was briefly courted to be the Bachelorette.

Phillips dropped the reality romance bombshell during a get-to-know-you Q&A with her KIIS FM breakfast co-host Jase Hawkins last week after Hawkins asked which reality show she would go on.

“Probably the Bachelorette, if I was single,” Phillips replied before adding “and I thought about it”.

Turns out a call had been made a couple of years before to her management by Bachie scouts scouring Australia for a new Bachelorette.

Phillips would have followed the celebrity Bachelorette path of Sophie Monk. Picture: Channel 10

The call was to sound out whether Phillips was interested.

“I believe there may have been a discussion not about being a contestant but being the girl (Bachelorette),” she said.

Phillips would have been quite the catch continuing the celebrity Bachelorette trend started by Sophie Monk.

But while flattered to have been contacted, she quickly declined the opportunity.

Now happily loved-up with private jet operator Paul O’Brien, who is in lockdown in Melbourne with her and whom she regularly references on her KIIS show, Phillips is no doubt happy she did not accept a rose from Bachelorette HQ.

‘I’M A DISASTER OF A HUMAN’

Lauren Phillips is embracing her imperfections as she charts a new career course in breakfast radio.

“I’m a disaster of a human,” Phillips cheerfully admitted two weeks into her new gig.

“I get myself in all kinds of messes and I am just doing my best.

“We are having a lot of fun and I have a massive case of foot-in-mouth syndrome, so I provide plenty of entertainment.”

And she has quickly discovered her personal life is very much a talking point on FM radio.

“The first thing I learnt in this job is basically your privacy is gone and you talk about your personal life a lot, which is different to any job I have had before,” she said.

“It has been really nice to be part of a team where nothing is off the table.

Lauren Phillips and Jase Hawkins.

“It is no secret I had a pretty rough two years but it is really nice to be back in Melbourne in a job I have dreamt of having for a long time.

“I had to pinch myself the other day as I can’t believe I have been given this opportunity.”

Phillips, who presents weather on Weekend Today and is part of the Postcards reporting team, endured the heartbreak of her messy marriage breakdown to Lachlan Spark in 2018.

She is now dating Queensland-based private jet operator Paul O’Brien, who is in lockdown in Melbourne with her and whom she regularly references on her show.

She said having worked through her private upheaval she was now comfortable sharing her life with listeners.

“To be honest if this (KIIS breakfast) had happened two years ago I probably was not in the right headspace to do it and to be able to come and open my life up to other people’s opinion and input and sharing my life,” she said.

“I just would not have been in the right spot for it and I think this has come at the right time for me. I am really comfortable and happy.

“I did go through a bit of sh-t (in her personal life) but a lot of people have it worse than me.

“I know my life looks pretty shiny and looked pretty perfect from the outside, but I think anyone who knew me knew it was far from that.

“Life is not what it seems on the surface to most people. It certainly was not polished and it was not perfect but I have come out the other side — I have a few stories to tell — and I have tried to do it in good humour and stay as positive as I can.”

Taking the reins of KIIS breakfast alongside Hawkins has meant more than a new job — radio is a new career for Phillips. She has signed a three year deal with KIIS.

While she has often been an on-air guest and has extensive experience in TV, Phillips has had limited experience as a radio host.

“It was a huge decision for me because it was a career change,” she said.

“I love working at Channel 9, I love my job (on Weekend Today), and to dip my toe into a whole new industry, it was not a decision that was taken lightly.

“It is a career for me for the next three years.”

“I am learning on the job.”

The Covid lockdown has meant she and Hawkins are getting to know each other in the studio.

“With border restrictions and living in different states (Phillips has been in Queensland for the past year) we really did not spend a lot of time together before the show started, so hopefully it has been really nice for our listeners to get to know us as friends as we are getting to know each other,” she said.